‘A difficult club to coach’ – Ex-Barcelona chief defends Xavi

Former Barcelona sporting director Jordi Cruyff has this week moved to launch a stern defence of Xavi Hernández.

This comes amid criticism of the Spanish tactician, owing to the stellar time of things being enjoyed by Barcelona since his departure.

Barca are of course in the midst of what has been nothing short of a spectacular start to the new campaign.

Looking like a team reborn under the watch of new headmaster Hansi Flick, the Blaugrana have rattled off victories in all but two of their 14 fixtures across all competitions to date.

Not only that, but they have been scoring goals for fun, with the likes of Raphinha and Robert Lewandowski having exploded into life in Flick’s direct system.

Whilst one manager receives praise, however, another has been on the receiving end of frequent criticism of late…

After a somewhat underwhelming campaign in Catalunya’s capital in 2023/24, questions have begun to circulate as to why Xavi was not able to draw out even close to the same level on the part of Barca’s leading stars.

One individual, however, of the opinion that such a viewpoint is a narrow-minded one, comes in the form of the aforementioned Jordi Cruyff.

Speaking to the media on Thursday, in quotes gathered by Diario Sport, Cruyff, who worked alongside Xavi during a shared stint at the Camp Nou, explained:

“It’s hard for me to understand that to give praise to one you have to crush the other. A club is a process. There have been some coaches who at the time did not win the league but gave Pedri, Gavi, Araujo their debuts. Xavi came in at a very delicate moment and won La Liga with a very big difference. Things are going well and we have to praise, but we should not underestimate the league of two years ago. Barça is a difficult club to be a coach of.”

Conor Laird – GSFN